Overview:Port Authority is a custom level made for Half-Life 2 with assets from the game. The aim of the level was to provide a fun, well-paced 5 minutes of gameplay inspired by some of the locations in HL2‘s Route Kanal level.

Skills Involved:

Design, Layout, and Documentation: I first drew out a layout on graph paper in order to get an initial concept of the level and make quick early revisions. I then transferred these layouts to a digital format and wrote a level design document (included below) in order to better communicate the ideas and establish a tentative asset list.
During this conceptualization stage, I wanted to focus on the player being given an interesting path to follow throughout the level. I was inspired by some of the areas from Route Kanal in Half-Life 2, where the player travelling on an airboat would be blocked by some large obstacle, requiring them to get off and complete a short on-land segment. As such, the level follows a vaguely circular path, starting from the player dismounting the boat and bringing them back to the same point shortly after removing the obstacle blocking their progress.

Blockout and Gameplay Implementation: After creating a blockout of the level, it was apparent that the scale of the level felt way too small when playing it. Because I had only used default orangebox textures, I was able to easily double the size of the map in the X and Z axes, which felt much more appropriate.

Above: On the left, an in-editor screenshot of the initial blockout. On the right, an in-game screenshot of the final level.

Player Direction: A big aspect of the level I focused on was making sure that the path of the level always tries to point the player in the direction to the next area. In general, when a player enters an area in the level, the next waypoint for them to reach should be almost immediately visible on screen.

Click through this gallery for a visual walkthrough of the level, explaining ways I lead the player through the area:

The player starts on a small dock, with an airboat floating in the nearby canal.

Turning right, the player sees a large gate being lowered, blocking their path. Sirens start coming out of the nearby lighthouse, implying that the gate control mechanism is there.

Arriving at the dock before the gate, the player’s attention is attracted to the right by two guards firing from the control room.

After dispatching those guards, the player heads right to proceed down the dock. Three more guards appear for the player to take care of.

At the end of the dock, a small staircase leads the player to the ground floor, and points them to the entrance of the Port Authority building. The player needs to deal with another fight with guards here.

Entering the building, the player sees a large staircase to their left. Some more enemies appear, but a good source of cover is directly across the main area.

The view from the cover area shows a pair of doors with red lights, implying that they’re blocking the player’s path.

After taking care of the first wave of guards in the building, the player climbs the stairs, only to be attacked by two more enemies. This attack calls attention to the office area, as does the wire running to there from the door.

After dispatching those guards, the player can go over and hit the button to unlock the doors, which are very visible from the office.

After walking a short distance outside, the player enters the second floor of the lighthouse. Four guards are waiting here, as are wall-mounted health and power stations.

Climbing to the control room of the lighthouse, a gunship swoops in and shoots out the windows in an attempt to attack the player.

Fortunately, the guards left a rocket launcher here.

The player then needs to fight the gunship using the rockets, ducking fire behind the pillars between windows.

After defeating the gunship, the player then hits a button, and can see that the gate has finally been lifted.

A quick climb down a ladder and a short drop gets the player back to where they left their airboat, allowing them to sail through and complete the level.

Environmental Decoration: The use of a 3D skybox and fog effects helped further the theming of the coastal environment and make the map feel more expansive. However, I had to get it to align just right with the geometry that was actually in the level itself in order to make it appear seamless. For instance, the player starts the level in a tunnel area, but the outside of that tunnel that’s visible in the rest of the level actually exists in the 3D skybox.

How the tunnel housing the player start appears in-game

An in-editor shot showing what the tunnel actually looks like within the level.

A shot from within the 3D skybox, showing what details had to be aligned with the actual level geometry.

Above: A comparison of how the first area in the level looks in-game and how it was constructed in the Hammer editor.

An in-game shot from the top floor of the lighthouse, showing the 3d skybox and fog effects working to create an open-feeling area.